County’s Newsmakers Past and Future

What makes a corporate calendar year most memorable are the people whose hands turned the wheel of events. In Orange County’s business community, 1984 was a year when some leaders lost hold of that wheel while others grabbed hold. Already, there are those executives who are maneuvering for their place at the helm in 1985.

Many local leaders left their corporate roosts in 1984. When J. Robert Fluor died of cancer in September, the board of troubled Fluor Corp. had the unenviable task of replacing a near-legend. Flamboyant Lawrence Holmes suddenly resigned as president of Orange Bancorp; shortly before Christmas, Helionetics President Charles W. Missler quit.

It was also a year when Jerry Neely, the soft-spoken chairman of Smith International, led an unfriendly takeover bid for an out-of-state oil service company. Meanwhile, Donald L. Bren, Irvine Co’s majority owner, added both glitter and tarnish to his reputation.

What was, of course, is far easier to access than what will be. Still, there are those corporate leaders who are better-than-even bets to make news in 1985. Among the watchable is John G. Rinaldo, the real estate magnate whose trial on charges of misappropriating $10 million in retirement funds is scheduled for March.

Other leaders have near-certain 1985 success tucked in their hip pockets. Michael Dunn, president of Westworld Community Healthcare Inc., is positioning his company to become the nation’s giant operator of small hospitals. At Knott’s Berry Farm, President Terry E. Van Gorder represents the first outsider to break into the tightly knit Knott family circle, with fresh ideas for the aged park.

Along with those we watched in 1984 and those we will continue to watch in 1985, hundreds more are bucking for the corporate limelight; some will make it, others will fade in the trying.

Contributing to this report were Times Staff Writers Bruce Horovitz, Jane Applegate, Leslie Berkman, Kathleen Day, John O’Dell and Carla Lazzareschi.